Sunday, February 21, 2010

A New Chapter

I wish there were more hours in the day so that I could read. Well, non-medical texts, that is. Although it'd be nice for some extra time to crank through those as well.

I miss the mountains, I miss my nieces and nephews, and I miss reading.

My reading time is now after Tobie falls asleep, headlamp on, buried under the covers. It's a bit like summer-camp or secret reading after your parents told you to go to sleep. But it's the only time that I don't feel guilty doing it.

I just started "Anatomy of an Illness" by Norman Cousins, and I am so excited about it. Almost as excited as I am about getting to "William Osler, A Life in Medicine" by Bliss, which is also burning a hole on my nightstand.

The intro to the Cousins book contained the famous quote by Francis Peabody, "The secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient".

10 comments:

I commend your continued pursuit of reading during med school. I can't say I did the same thing. I always felt -- and still feel given my grant due date is looming -- that I should be reading journal articles rather than anything for fun. I'm also really picky with what I read and have of late been finding the barriers to reading (i.e. what if I can't even find a book I like) pretty insurmountable. So I don't read for fun anymore, pretty much at all.

OMDG--I think if I was trying to do what you are doing I wouldn't be reading for pleasure either!

I know when I was doing the pre-req year from HELL I had to resort to books on tape that I listened to while driving or on my walks to and fro school. It's a nice way to multi-task.

EMT--tough question since I am not sure what you are into but I can give you some good medically related ones that I've read in the past year (I am assuming that is an area of interest)... :)

-"Better" or "Complications" by Atwul Gawande.

-"My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Taylor.

-"Bloodletting and Other Miraculous Cures" by Vincent Lam.

"How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman.

"Consumption" by Kevin Patterson.*

"The Pianoman's Daughter" by Timothy Findlay.**

"I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb.

"My Sisters Keeper" by Jodi Piccoult.

"Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself" by Russell Wangersky.

Those are some that immediately come to mind...I read "Shantaram" by Gregory Roberts. A true story based on an escaped Aussie convict who moves to India and starts a free clinic in the slums there, get involved with the Indian mafia, etc. Best book I've read in a loooonnng time.

*One of my all time favorite books. It also will give you one of the best literary insights into working/living in the Canadian Arctic. Written by a Canadian MD who spent a lot of time in Rankin Inlet, one of my favorite places that I've worked up North.

**Anything by Timothy Findlay is great IMHO. Other good ones by him include "Pilgrim" and "Not Wanted on the Voyage".

Death be not proud, by John Gunther is a med-historical tragedy that i found quite powerful. I think it was written in like the 40's, and medicine was just growing its first cancer treatment legs... I found it a bit depressing but quite beautiful as well.

Just throwin' in my own two cents. I also recently was recommended the book "the wisdom of whores" which is an epidemiological look at HIV & other BBV/STI's through the clever words of Elizabeth Pisani... Highly recommend.

Currently Reading

"I cannot rest from travel; I will drink Life to the Lees. All times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea. I am become a name; For always roaming with a hungry heart..." Lord Tennyson